Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Some recent signs of reaction against prevailing Soviet doctrinal emphasis on missiles

Purchase Print Copy

Over the past few years, the primacy of strategic missile forces has become a tenet of Soviet military doctrine. It would now appear, judging from recently published Soviet military discussions, that a countertrend has begun--representing a reaction in some quarters against the new orthodoxy embodying such Khrushchevian strategic notions as the absolute primacy of nuclear missile weapons. In part, this reaction may represent merely a continuation of the modernist-traditionalist debate. Some military writers from both schools have now begun to suggest, however, that such ideas have been carried too far, threatening to create a new orthodoxy that could cripple the creative development of Soviet military theory and of other forces, particularly aviation.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.